Monday, November 26th, 2018 | Public Agenda

Cities of Service, a nonprofit organization that helps mayors build stronger cities by changing the way local government and citizens work together, launched the application process for its second annual Engaged Cities Award. The international award program recognizes cities that have actively engaged their citizens to solve a critical public problem.

All over the world, city leaders and citizens are reducing community violence, producing better budgets, creating safer streets and building stronger communities together. The award shines a light on the engagement solutions that have worked for these neighborhoods. Cities of Service creates blueprints, case studies, and other resources that highlight winning cities’ solutions so other cities can replicate their projects and their impact. You can find resources from the 2018 award at engagedcitiesaward.org.

Engaged Cities Award applicants must address a specific problem that directly affects the lives of citizens, such as homelessness, neighborhood safety, or extreme weather, or impacts the city’s ability to deliver vital services to the community.

The Engaged Cities Award is open to cities with populations of 30,000+ in the Americas and Europe. Cities of Service, along with an esteemed group of experts, will choose three winning cities. Each winner will receive a minimum of $50,000 and be announced as part of the Engaged Cities Award Summit in fall 2019.

Are you a city leader engaged in this kind of problem-solving, world-changing work with your citizens? Cities of Service wants to hear from you! Just answer five short questions and submit your application by January 18, 2019.

For more information about the Cities of Service Engaged Cities Award, including guiding philosophy, criteria, eligibility, timeline, and past winners, please visit: engagedcitiesaward.org.

Looking to learn more about last year’s winners? Check out this blog from Cities of Service Award judge and Public Agenda Vice President of Public Engagement Matt Leighninger.

Friday, November 16th, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA

Democracy

Twitter Is Not the Echo Chamber We Think It Is
(MIT Sloan)
Recent research challenges conventional wisdom about how users share
information on the social platform. Continue Reading

Democrats Say Their
First Bill Will Focus On Strengthening Democracy At Home (NPR)Party leaders say the first legislative vote in the
House will come on H.R. 1, a magnum opus of provisions that Democrats believe
will strengthen U.S. democratic institutions and traditions. Continue Reading

Will the Left Go Too
Far? (The Atlantic)For the third time in a century,
leftists are driving the Democratic Party's agenda. Will they succeed in
making America more equitable, or overplay their hand?Continue Reading

Opportunity/Inequality

Amazon HQ2 won't help
New York's massive inequality problem (Curbed New York)The corporation is set to receive more
than $2 billion in public subsidies while its neighbors rely on food
stamps. Continue Reading

Northern Virginia
property owners are delighted Amazon HQ2 is moving in. Renters, first-time
buyers and low-income residents aren't. (Washington Post)Anticipation that the online retail
giant would open its new headquarters in this Northern Virginia
neighborhood of hotels, high-rise condominiums and office buildings set off a
flurry of real estate speculation - even before the official
announcement from Amazon on Tuesday morning. Continue Reading

After wrangling with
Amazon, Bernie Sanders has set his sights on Walmart (Business Insider)Bernie Sanders clashed
with Amazon over its minimum wage - and prevailed. The online retailer bumped its
minimum wage up to $15 an hour.But the senator from Vermont isn't
finished wrangling with major companies over wages. The Washington
Post reported on Wednesday that Sanders and California representative
Ro Khanna are introducing legislation - the "Stop Walmart Act" - to
compel Walmart to boost its minimum wage to $15 an hour.Continue Reading

Engagement

25 newsrooms have attempted to bridge divisions
- in person. Here's what they've learned (Nieman Lab) "Whenever you have an individual
interaction, a lot of the bluster, a lot of the generalizations, a lot of the
group identifications fall away," one participant in Pennsylvania
said." Continue Reading

PA MENTION - New
Yorkers Decided They Want More Democracy, But What Does That Mean? (Gotham
Gazette)On Election Day, New Yorkers passed
three ballot measures intended to strengthen local democracy. One of the
approved plans is for the city to create a Civic Engagement Commission that
will have several key responsibilities, including a new citywide participatory
budgeting (PB) program, assistance to city agencies and nonprofits for their
engagement efforts, and support to community boards to make them more
participatory and representative of the communities they serve.Continue Reading

What It Takes: From Philadelphia, Lessons About Philanthropy and Civic
Engagement (Inside Philanthropy)Recent research conducted by
New America colleagues and I looks at this massive,
long-term initiative to revitalize Philadelphia's civic engagement
ecosystem, and its successes and challenges so far. One of the initiative's
goals is to invest in parks, recreation centers, and libraries as civic spaces.Continue Reading

K-12

Did giving extra money
to struggling Denver schools boost test scores? Study suggests it did.
(Chalkbeat)With Republicans solidly in control of
the Michigan legislature, governor-elect Gretchen Whitmer's
education agenda may depend on finding a sliver of common ground with
the opposite party. Continue Reading

Many Latino students
lag academically in prosperous Maryland County (Washington Post)A troubling number of Latino students in
one of the nation's most prosperous counties are unprepared for kindergarten,
lag in reading, drop out of high school and falter as they head to college,
according to a report released Thursday. Continue Reading

Philadelphia schools
adopt outdoor education as a graduation strategy (Education Dive)The School District of Philadelphia has
adopted a new strategy to boost graduation rates that has very little to do
with reading, writing or arithmetic. Instead, it has everything to do with
leadership skills, team building, character development and other byproducts
of Outward Bound's outdoor expeditions. Continue Reading

Higher Ed/Workforce

One state uses data about job needs to help
decide what colleges should teach (Hechinger Report)A seemingly obvious way to connect
supply with demand, the approach remains rare Continue Reading

Fewer International
Students Heading to the U.S. (Wall Street Journal)American colleges and universities face
growing challenge amid rising competition from other countries, concerns about
safety and immigration policiesContinue Reading

Amazon arrival spurs
Virginia Tech to build technology campus in Northern Virginia (Washington Post)Virginia Tech plans to build a $1
billion graduate campus within walking distance of Amazon's new headquarters in
Northern Virginia, the keystone in an expansion of technology education in the
state designed to lure the company to the region and then to address the
long-term impact of Amazon's decision. Continue Reading

Health Care

CMS may allow hospitals
to pay for housing through Medicaid (Modern Healthcare)HHS Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday
said Medicaid may soon allow hospitals and health systems to directly pay for
housing, healthy food or other solutions for the "whole person." Continue Reading

Experts: Trump
administration's moves will put drug prices center stage in 2020 election
(Fierce Healthcare)The Trump administration's plan to peg
Part B drug prices to those paid in other countries may not come to fruition in
its current form, but it's meant more to signal to the healthcare industry-and
voters-that it's serious on this issue, experts say. Continue Reading

Healthcare will
outspend all other industries on R&D by 2020, PwC says (Healthcare Dive)Healthcare is on track to be the No. 1
industry for global research and development spending, according to
new analysis from PwC. The industry currently ranks second behind
computing and electronics, but is expected to pull ahead by 2020. Continue Reading

Friday, November 9th, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA

Democracy

Is Democracy at Risk? A Lesson Plan for U.S. and Global History
Classes (New York Times)Often
we take for granted that the United States is a democracy, and that democracy
is a form of government worth celebrating. This lesson starts there, but then
pushes students to reflect on why democracies are worth protecting, what
elements are essential to a healthy democracy and how it is that democracies
sometimes fail.Continue Reading

Is More Democracy Always Better Democracy? (The New Yorker)Parties
are losing control over their candidates. Two scholars argue that ordinary
Americans are the ones paying the price.Continue Reading

Opportunity/Inequality

How resources and opportunities differ for NYC students
(Hechinger Report)Resources,
instructional materials are drastically different for public school students
living in the same city. Continue Reading

Democrats Win Control Of The Wealthiest Districts -- But Also
The Most Unequal (Forbes)Democrats
took control of the House, gaining at least 30 seats (there are still
technically 422 of 435 seats undeclared), and bringing the balance of power up
to 225 Democrat representatives against 197 Republican. Democrats, in fact, now
represent 41 out of the top-50 wealthiest congressional districts - and all 10
of the top-10 wealthiest districts, according to a recent election study. Continue Reading

Conservative Arkansas could soon have the highest effective
minimum wage in the country (The Washington Post)Arkansas
is likely to have the highest effective minimum wage in the country soon,
setting up a grand experiment in whether a high minimum wage in a poor state
can raise workers out of poverty - or derail the state's economy.Continue Reading

Engagement

The 'Gateway Drug to Democracy' (The Atlantic)When
people are asked how they would like to spend their tax dollars and are given
an option to directly implement that binding decision themselves, "it
really inspires a different way of thinking about our governments and our
cities." Continue Reading

City Voters Resoundingly Decide to Place Term Limits on
Community Boards (Sunnyside Post)Voters
in New York City have decided to place term limits on community board members.
Community board members currently serve two-year terms, and are re-appointed
without limit. Continue Reading

Record voter turnout in 2018 midterm elections (CBS News)An
estimated 113 million people participated in the 2018 midterm elections, making
this the first midterm in history to exceed over 100 million votes, with 49
percent of eligible voters participating in the election. By comparison, the
2014 midterm elections had one of the lowest turnouts in American history, with
only 36.4 percent of eligible voters participating. In 2010, the first midterm
of President Obama's tenure, 41 percent of voters participated. Continue Reading

K-12

A rich Michigan district gets $10.1K per student. Its poorer
neighbor gets $7.9K. Will Michigan's new divided government change the math
(Chalkbeat)With
Republicans solidly in control of the Michigan legislature, governor-elect
Gretchen Whitmer's education agenda may depend on finding a sliver of common
ground with the opposite party. Continue Reading

EDlection2018: 2016 National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes
Elected to U.S. Congress in CT, Promising to Back Teachers and Increase School
Funding (The 74)Democrat
and 2016 National Teacher of the Year Jahana Hayes made history Tuesday night,
becoming the first black woman elected to Congress in Connecticut. Continue Reading

Report: Schools investing in ed tech they don't use (Education
Dive)With
the massive increase in ed tech and, as a result, education apps, schools
continue to boost their investment in these programs - but in the end, they
don't really use them. Continue Reading

Higher Ed/Workforce

Cal State Sees Major Gains in Graduation Rates (Inside Higher
Ed)Administrators
at the California State University System worried two years ago when the system
set ambitious goals for increasing graduation rates. They were concerned that
low-income students and students of color would be harmed by the new targets.
One criticism, for example, was that students would be pushed into courses they
were not prepared to take.Instead, the nation's largest and most
diverse public university system is seeing record levels of achievement and
narrowed equity gaps among low-income and minority students. Continue Reading

A Divided Congress Is Unlikely to Compromise on Higher Ed. But
What if It Did? (The Chronicle of Higher Education)In
the wake of Tuesday's election results, there will inevitably be talk of
reauthorizing the Higher Education Act, the main federal law governing student
aid and other key higher-education policies, during the next two years. Continue Reading

A Lesson From Montanans' Vote to Tax Themselves to Fund Higher
Education (The Atlantic)At
a time when Republican trust in college overall is low, voters tend to keep
supporting their local schools. Continue Reading

Health Care

Why Doctors Hate Their Computers (The New
Yorker)Digitization promises to make medical care easier and more
efficient. But are screens coming between doctors and patients? Continue Reading

Healthcare providers concerned, unsure how to
address CMS price transparency final rule (Healthcare Finance)There is growing concern about how much value the rule really
provides for patients and the potential perception problem it creates for
hospitals.Continue Reading

Industry slow to improve patient health
literacy (Modern Healthcare)It wasn't long after the primary-care focused Rio Grande
Valley Health Alliance in McAllen, Texas, was formed in 2013 that it became
apparent the accountable care organization's patients had trouble talking with
physicians about their health during office visits.Part of the problem
was language related-most of the ACO's 7,500 patients in the southern Texas
border town speak English as a second language. But a bigger challenge was the
intimidation patients felt when they were meeting a doctor in the clinic was limiting
their understanding of their health and how to improve or maintain it. Continue Reading

Friday, November 9th, 2018 | MICHAEL BARBER

My older son is a second-grade student at our neighborhood elementary school in Chicago. Next year, his younger brother will turn old enough to follow him through the doors of the same old, worn-out looking, brick building. I’m actually happy about this. I’ve come to realize there are aspects to schools that are superficial, such as the color of the paint on the walls or having the newest model of machines in the computer lab. There are other things that really matter.

Focusing on what matters

A central commitment to equity and helping all kids learn are among the things that make a school a good place to be. Related to this, I would include ongoing efforts to nurture and repair -- when necessary -- a welcoming and inclusive environment where teachers, administrators, students and families cultivate trust in one another. Of course, any school that aspires to maintain the public’s confidence and be worthy of our trust will need lots of good books, space for children to play, and teachers who have both real credentials and caring ways of relating to kids. Perhaps most of all, I would include time to think, to create and to share. Our neighborhood public school doesn’t look new or fancy (because it’s neither of these), but this doesn’t prevent its leadership team and teachers from focusing on what really matters. Students need time to learn and their teachers do too.

Working together to get better

At our school, the teachers have been meeting with some frequency in inquiry groups, with each comprised of just a few staff. They are using time—a precious resource in schools—to learn together how to get better. Every month for 90 minutes, each inquiry group meets to continue its exploration of the same area of teaching and learning. One group is inquiring about project-based instruction, another group about supporting the development of students’ social and emotional competencies, and yet another about integrating the fine and performing arts across the curriculum. These are just three of the ten inquiry groups underway. During these exploration meetings, school leaders and teachers with particular expertise share their experience, knowledge, and skill with their colleagues to explore important questions and help coordinate and improve instruction across the school. This kind of collaborative effort is not the norm in most schools, not because most schools could not do it or that most teachers wouldn’t want to do it, but because we haven’t made schools places where it’s a priority for teachers to work and learn together. However, a growing body of evidence shows that in schools where teachers get together to collaborate, student achievement is higher and teacher retention is better.

Creative time-making

It isn’t always easy for the teachers at my son’s school to get together in their inquiry groups or to collaborate for other purposes. In a creative and successful attempt to make time last spring, the school administration and parents partnered to chaperone different grade-level groups of students on field trips over the course of several days. They were able to provide not only a novel learning experience for students, but also time for teachers to get together to co-design and align meaningful performance assessments with curriculum units. Professionals need time together, to do work together.

Making time regular and frequent

Considering parents can’t always be available to volunteer for entire school days and kids likely won’t be taking field trips with a lot of frequency, schools need to find regular and realistic ways for teachers to find time to collaborate. While the challenges facing schools are embedded in social and economic contexts that can make for great difficulties, schools should nonetheless be places where teachers can organize effectively to solve certain problems together that they can’t solve separately. Like other complex organizations, schools aren’t going to make much progress on the tough challenges they can address if teachers aren’t engaging in joint problem-solving work together. Like other professionals, teachers aren’t going to improve much if they are always working in isolation. Teachers need to talk with other adults about their students, their instruction, and both their needs and ideas for improvement. If we make time for teachers to work in the company of knowledgeable colleagues, they can develop their tools to enact ambitious instruction on a range of topics across subject areas. If teachers have genuine and ongoing learning opportunities, they can improve opportunities for student learning. To do this, they need time. I hope we can find ways for all schools to make more time for teachers to learn together. Without that time, I don’t see how we can make schools places where all our kids will learn from teachers who are continuing to get better at the things that really matter.

Michael Barber is a parent of a student at Ravenswood Elementary School in Chicago and an associate program officer at the Spencer Foundation.

Allen is leading a project at Campbell University to identify, align, and energize effective rural philanthropy around the country. Betsey is a philanthropy writer and researcher, currently developing a series of case studies about successful rural funding approaches.

Smart and Russell focus on dispelling stereotypes of rural America.

There is a popular, longstanding perception (among urban folk) that rural America is somehow separate from the rest of us…. Seen either as one large, poorly educated and impoverished backwater (a rural dystopia as in the film Deliverance), or a self-segregated, agrarian utopia…. (À la the sitcom “Green Acres”). Post 2016, another frame has emerged: that of rural America as an angry white mob that votes counter to its own interests.

Their nice metaphor is of a magic flying carpet:

We believe civil society exists when people who live in a defined geographic proximity work cooperatively—even when they strongly disagree with or dislike one another—to sustain mutually beneficial conditions. Think of civil society as a magic flying carpet that, to hold a community aloft, must contain many different fibers.

Five lessons are derived from their experience with rural community engagement and philanthropy. Two highlights:

Civil society is rooted in actions, not words.

…while some urban researchers, thinkers, and pundits may spend time developing and analyzing theories about civil society, people in rural communities are spending time imagining and incubating the “real-world” conversations, partnerships, mutual understandings, and trust necessary to create it.

Civil society can become a bastion of the privileged.

In many cases, civil society in rural communities has been controlled by a few, much to the detriment of the whole…. Those in power are quick to serve on boards, run for office, donate to local organizations, and speak their minds. While this may ensure some consistency in leadership for civil society, the downside is that this small group of people ultimately control the community….Fortunately, rural communities can change this dynamic to foster civil society.

Friday, October 12th, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA

Democracy

Estranged in America: Both Sides Feel Lost and Left Out (The
Upshot)Nearly
half of Democrats say they feel this way, slightly more than Republicans. Continue Reading

Could populism actually be good for democracy? (The Guardian)A
wave of populist revolts has led many to lose faith in the wisdom of people
power. But such eruptions are essential to the vitality of modern politics. Continue Reading

Elections: Understanding democracy in a divided America
(Stanford News)A
divided electorate and intense partisanship have led to a tense public mood
where feelings of polarization run deep. People are now more attached to their
party affiliation than any other social identifier - like race and religion - according to
Stanford scholar Shanto Iyengar. He argues that this only amplifies polarization further. Continue Reading

Opportunity/Inequality

This Map Shows Income Inequality in Every American Metro Area
(HowMuch.net)Wealth
and income inequality are growing areas of concern. A report from Oxfam found that 82%
of all wealth created throughout the world in 2017 went to the top 1%. 8 individuals literally own
as much money as 3.8 billion people. It's hard to grasp what these numbers
really mean, so let's reframe the issue at the local level. How bad is income
inequality where you live? Continue Reading

Poverty, Perseverance and a PhD (Hechinger Report)An
elite university helped her climb but changing class can be a lonely journey. Continue Reading

Is Your State Serving Black Students? (Inside Higher Ed)New
report from the University of Southern California's Race and Equity Center
grades public institutions across the country. Continue Reading

Engagement

Austin Ranks High In Voter Turnout In New Civil Health Checkup
(KUT.org)Residents
in the Greater Austin area ranked high in voter turnout and knowledge of key
issues, but have lent less of a helping hand, according to the 2018 Greater
Austin Civic Health Index. Continue Reading

Bringing the e-commerce experience to civic engagement (eGov
Innovation)Boosting
digital citizen interaction does not have to be complicated. Powered by the
right technology and streamlined processes, both citizens and government
entities benefit from a smarter approach to interactions. Continue Reading

PA Mention - Montana vote becomes a national referendum on
public confidence in higher ed (Hechinger Report)Fifty-eight
percent of people polled by the think tank New America said colleges and
universities put their own interests ahead of those of students. About the same
proportion in a Public Agenda survey said colleges care mostly about the bottom
line, and 44 percent said they're wasteful and inefficient. Continue Reading

K-12

In These Districts, Friday Is Not a School Day (Wall Street
Journal)For
most students here, the weekend starts when the final bells ring on Thursday
afternoons. Pueblo City Schools, in southern Colorado, this year joined a
growing number of school districts hoping to save costs and attract teachers by
shifting to a four-day week, a schedule once primarily used by rural districts
that is now moving into suburban and urban areas. Continue Reading

Enrollment instability is a major reason why schools are
struggling - so why isn't anyone tracking the problem? (Chalkbeat)There's
no question that Detroit schools are struggling with the serious consequences of students
coming and going throughout the school year. What's less clear is how the
problem compares to other cities and states.That's because no one is
keeping close track nationally of these frequent school moves, known by
academics as student mobility or enrollment instability. Continue Reading

You thought failing PE or art in high school doesn't matter? Not
so, new Chicago study says. (Chalkbeat)Failing
a class like art or PE in the freshman year could be just as damaging to a
student's chance of graduating as failing English, math or science, a newly
released study of Chicago schools has found. Continue Reading

Higher Ed/Workforce

At a growing number of colleges, faculty get a new role:
spotting troubled students (Hechinger Report)For
many faculty, this new role requires a culture shift. Some still don't consider
it their job, said Patricia Rieman, an associate professor of education at
Carthage who is an advocate for, and was on the subcommittee that created, that
school's early-alert system. "I'm not somebody's mother,'" she said
some faculty have carped. "A lot of professors also don't feel they have
time. We're expected to do more and more, without additional compensation."
Continue Reading

The Secrets of Getting Into Harvard Were Once Closely Guarded.
That's About to Change (Wall Street Journal)This
year, 42,749 students applied to Harvard College, and only 1,962 were admitted.
How Harvard decides who makes the cut has long been a mystery.That's
about to change. A trial beginning Monday in Boston federal court will examine
how the elite institution uses race to shape its student body. It will force
Harvard to spill details about its admissions practices. Continue Reading

The Little College Where Tuition Is Free and Every Student Is
Given a Job (The Atlantic)Berea
College, in Kentucky, has paid for every enrollee's education using its
endowment for 126 years. Can other schools replicate the model? Continue Reading

Health Care

Providers are going digital to meet increased
demand (Modern Healthcare)As the U.S. population ages and develops chronic diseases
more frequently, provider organizations are turning to digital tools to meet
increased demand for healthcare, according to a new report from Ernst &
Young. Continue Reading

CVS and Aetna merger a disruptive sign of the
future (Healthcare Finance)Two provider organizations have reacted negatively to
Wednesday's announcement by the
Department of Justice to allow the merger between CVS Health and Aetna
contingent upon Aetna divesting of its Medicare Part D prescription drug plans.
Continue Reading

Healthcare prices growing slowly: 4 findings
(Becker's Hospital Review)Healthcare prices in the U.S. showed low growth in the first
half of 2018, according to an analysis from nonprofit health
systems research and consulting organization Altarum. Continue Reading

Friday, October 5th, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA

Democracy

Russia, the internet and "political technologists" -
is this the future of democracy? (Open Democracy)As
more revelations emerge about Russian interference in Western democracies, Nick
Inman reviews a BBC broadcast that asks if Russia is merely where 21st century
ideas of democracy died first. Continue Reading

'Can Democracy Work?' considers the perils and pitfalls of the
institution across time (Christian Science Monitor)Author
and academic James Miller examines the idea of democracy in five distinct
moments throughout human history, and chronicles how vastly different each
iteration has been. Continue Reading

Opportunity/Inequality

Opportunity/Inequality

Union Membership Narrows the Racial Wealth Gap for Families of
Color (Center for American Progress)The
data suggest that nonwhite union members receive a particular boost in their
wealth because they see larger increases in pay, benefits, and employment
stability than white union members. Continue Reading

Detailed New National Maps Show How Neighborhoods Shape Children
for Life (The Upshot)Some
places lift children out of poverty. Others trap them there. Now cities are
trying to do something about the difference. Continue Reading

The Most Important Least-Noticed Economic Event of the Decade
(The Upshot)A
localized recession in manufacturing-heavy areas can explain a lot of things. Continue Reading

Engagement

Managing Digital Change: Playing The Long Game For Participatory
Democracy (Forbes)At
a time when social platforms are increasingly under scrutiny-censoring
"fake news," deciding who has access to their tools for what purpose,
determining if and where to draw boundaries around free speech-tech companies
are reluctantly playing a role in defining "right" versus
"wrong" for billions of people every day.Continue Reading

Promotion Standards and Public Engagement (Inside Higher
Education)A
new
study examined
in Nature
says
that university guidelines on tenure and promotion still focus on publication
metrics, rather than professed values such as public engagement. Continue Reading

What's New in Civic Tech: Long Beach, Calif., Establishes Office
of Civic Innovation (Government Technology)Long
Beach, Calif., has established a new office of civic innovation within its city
manager's office, according to a press release from the city. Technologists in
the office will serve as in-house consultants to other departments, with a goal
of co-creating effective approaches to pressing community issues. Continue Reading

K-12

11 charter schools get permission to open in New York, bringing
the city closer to the legal limit (Chalkbeat)Nearly
a dozen new charter schools have gotten the green light to open in New York in
the next three years, bringing the city closer to a looming limit on charters
that has advocates fretting.The SUNY Charter Schools Institute, one of
two entities able to approve new charter schools for the state, signed off on 11
applications during a meeting in Albany Thursday. All of the schools aim to
open in the Bronx or Brooklyn, and while several would be part of existing
school networks, others would be the first for their operators. Continue Reading

Working in a group might be the best way to help kids meet
individual goals, study says (Hechinger Report)A
new study out by the American Institutes for Research (AIR), a nonprofit
research firm, makes the argument that collaborative, group learning might
actually serve each student's individual academic needs quite well. Continue Reading

Higher Ed/Workforce

At Elite Colleges, Racial Diversity Requires Affirmative Action
(New York Times)Getting
more low-income students into elite colleges like Harvard and Stanford is an
important goal. But it can't replace race-based affirmative action. Continue Reading

Boston judge permits lawsuit against Harvard to go forward
(Christian Science Monitor)In
a closely watched case that could influence affirmative action practices in
college admissions decisions, a federal judge on Friday rejected a motion from
Harvard University to rule in its favor. The university faces a lawsuit on the
basis of discrimination against Asian-American applicants. The trial is set to
begin on Oct. 15. Continue Reading

Education Department will miss deadline on rules affecting
students in for-profit colleges (Washington Post)The
Education Department is going to miss a self-imposed deadline to deliver new
rules governing how for-profit colleges and universities should deal with their
students. But critics of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos say the delay is
actually a good thing for students. Continue Reading

Health Care

Congress angles for air ambulance cost
transparency (Modern Healthcare)Last November, a fully insured North Dakotan was dispatched
on an 84-mile medical air transport from Langdon, N.D., to Grand Forks. When
the charges came in at more than $66,000, out-of-network insurance covered just
$16,000.The patient was left with a $50,000 bill balance from Valley Med
Flight.Continue Reading

Lawmakers: States need to gather better data
about mothers dying in childbirth (Fierce Healthcare)States are not doing enough to understand what went wrong
after mothers die from pregnancy-related complications-a necessary step to
figuring out how to stem growing maternal mortality rates in the U.S., experts
told lawmakers on Thursday. Continue Reading

New Report Examines Healthcare in the
"Amazon Era" (Healthcare Informatics)Hospital business leaders are open, and even optimistic,
about the benefits of innovation from non-traditional healthcare players, such
as Amazon and Apple, according to a new report from
Captains of Industry, a marketing consultancy. Continue Reading

With the school year in full swing, teachers, administrators and education leaders are once again fully entrenched in the day- to-day workings of ensuring students are receiving the skills and information they need to succeed. However, despite this earnest effort on their part, many teachers find themselves working in isolation, apart from other teachers, which ironically enough doesn’t maximize the likelihood that their efforts will be effective.

A growing body of research shows that when teachers work more collaboratively, student outcomes can improve, teachers can be more satisfied in their jobs and teacher turnover can decrease. Teacher Collaboration In Perspective, a joint project of Public Agenda and the Spencer Foundation, is designed to contribute to a better-informed dialogue about how teachers can work more collaboratively.

With more and more attention placed on teacher productivity from parents, government officials and other big name funders, including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, it’s becoming increasingly clear that this “egg crate” model -- a compartmentalized and isolated working environment -- is not optimal for student or teacher success. While collaboration is routine in professions such as scientific research, health care, architecture and the performing arts, most schools are not structured so that teachers can learn from one another, coordinate lessons, discuss data or share ideas.

Fostering collaboration among teachers requires changing how schools and teachers’ work are organized. When schools are organized like egg crates, important information about the challenges that teachers encounter, the problems that puzzle them, and the expertise they might offer their peers remains limited by the confines of the classroom. Working together may make it easier for teachers to identify and address problems in students’ progress, share information about individual students from grade to grade or develop curricula and approaches to teaching that are consistent and coherent across grades and subject areas. Schools that are more collaborative have been shown to have stronger student academic outcomes than schools that are less collaborative. Studies have found that:

When it comes to specific approaches to fostering collaboration, there are different degrees of effectiveness in improving student achievement.

Overall, the goal is to ensure success for both students and teachers alike. The first step to guaranteeing this success, however, is a dialogue, where the needs and challenges of teachers are addressed and talked through so that important lessons can be gleaned from these conversations and, in turn, put into action. To learn how you can contribute to a better dialogue around student and teacher success visit in-perspective.org to access a suite of materials designed to facilitate effective conversations on teacher collaboration. Also, sign up for email updates for more information on teacher collaboration and other topics critical to increasing student success.

Friday, September 28th, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA

Democracy

Golden could be the first Colorado city to lower the minimum
voting age to 16 (Orton.org)Colorado
law limits voting to adults 18 and older, but as a home rule city, Golden could
lower that age threshold for municipal-only races and ballot issues. People
would still need to be at least 18 to hold office in Golden. If the measure
passes, the first election that minors would likely be able to vote in would be
November 2019. Continue Reading

The forgotten majority: how norms inform the practice of
democracy (Vox)We
have a lot of norms about democracy. They're not all consistent.Continue Reading

Study Finds Partisan Beliefs Drive Attitudes Toward New Media
(Courthouse News)Nearly
two years into Donald Trump's presidency, the partisan divide over the media
and its role in the American democracy appears to have widened, a new study
from the Pew Research Center says. Continue Reading

Opportunity/Inequality

Black students default on college loans at a higher rate than
others, study finds (Hechinger Report)There's
great disparity in the way that college graduates pay back student loans. Among
black bachelor's degree holders, 21 percent defaulted on their student loans
within 12 years of entering college, according to a report released this week
from The
Institute for College Access and Success. Only 8 percent of Hispanic degree holders
and 3 percent of white degree holders defaulted within that time period. Continue Reading

Income inequality is changing how we think, live, and die (Vox)Why
society might be more stable if we had more poverty and less inequality. Continue Reading

Engagement

College-age voters: increasingly courted - and thwarted
(Christian Science Monitor)Many
students are too busy to care much about politics, but those who tune in can
make the difference in a tight race - so battles are heating up over whether
certain voting rules create unfair barriers.Continue Reading

How governments can let citizens call the shots (GovInsider)Participatory
budgeting can help citizens become decision-makers, serve the underprivileged
and be a force for good on a national scale. Continue Reading

K-12

Want to boost test scores and increase grad rates? One strategy:
look outside schools and help low-income families (Chalkbeat)A
large and growing body of research backs up Marquita's experience, documenting
not only that poverty hurts students in school, but that specific anti-poverty
programs can counteract that harm. These programs - or other methods of
increasing family income - boost students' test scores, make them more likely
to finish high school, and raise their chances of enrolling in college. Continue Reading

Report: 44 states have implemented at least one K-12 computer
science policy (Education Dive)Since
2013, the number of states with at least one policy related to computer science
education in K-12 schools has increased from 14 to 44, according to a State of
Computer Science Education report released Thursday from the Code.org Advocacy Coalition
and the Computer Science Teachers Association. Continue Reading

The Future of Education: K-12 Superintendents' Views (Gallup)U.S.
public school superintendents remain enthusiastic about the future of their
school district, but they are much less excited about public education
nationwide. Eighty-six percent of K-12 superintendents agree they are excited
about the future of their district, including 53% who strongly agree. Only half
as many, 42%, agree they are excited about the future of K-12 public education
in the U.S. Continue Reading

Higher Ed/Workforce

Diversity Fatigue Is Real (The Chronicle of Higher Education)For
many folks of color in the academy, the language of diversity itself is tired
and appears to be bandied about primarily for branding purposes. Continue Reading

How the Great Recession changed higher education forever
(Washington Post)For
some colleges, the past 10 years have involved moving from one year to the next
while grasping for strategies that might last longer. Others have approached
the challenges of this past decade by hunkering down, hoping the tough times
will simply pass. Rarely do enough college leaders peer far enough into the
future, instead confronting the challenges ahead of them, incrementally, one
year at a time. Continue Reading

Report: Colleges need more time to fill their incoming classes
(Education Dive)As
competition for students increases, colleges are struggling to meet their
target enrollment numbers by the traditional May 1 deadline, according to Inside Higher
Ed's 2018 Survey of College and University Admissions Directors. The survey
analyzed responses from 499 senior admissions or enrollment management
professionals. Continue Reading

Health Care

Tennessee joins push for Medicaid work
requirements (Modern Healthcare)Tennessee officially posted its Medicaid waiver that would
require enrollees to either seek or maintain work.It's the fourth state to
propose a Medicaid work requirement this month for comment. Continue Reading

Health Care Transparency Effort Lags (WLRN)With just months left in his term, one of Gov. Rick Scott's
key health-care initiatives remains in limbo. Scott convinced legislators to
set aside $3.5 million to create a new website and to create a claims database
that would allow Floridians to shop around when it comes to health care. But
with Scott ready to leave the governor's office in January, the health-care
price information still isn't available to Florida consumers.Continue Reading

Bipartisan
Negativity in Views of the Healthcare Industry (Gallup)Republicans and Democrats
have held similar views of the U.S. healthcare industry over the last two years
since President Donald Trump took office, with 37% of Republicans and 33% of
Democrats viewing it "very" or "somewhat" positively.
However, this reflects a significant souring of Democrats' views of the
healthcare industry since Barack Obama's second term as president. Republicans'
views of the industry have recovered to pre-Obama levels. Continue Reading

Friday, September 21st, 2018 | PUBLIC AGENDA

Democracy

The death of democracy and birth of an unknown beast (The
Economist)History
provides uncomfortable lessons. Among them is that systems of governance are
not immortal and that democracies can devolve into autocracy. As institutions
decay and social norms fray, democratic processes and practices are prone to
apathy, demagoguery and disintegration. Continue Reading

Democracy Will Still Surprise Us (New York Times)Of
late, Western democracy has concentrated rather than spread wealth, suggesting
it serves injustice. But it is stubborn and adaptable. Continue Reading

US democracy is not at risk - it's working like the Constitution
intended it to (Business Insider)American
democracy might depend on the three branches of government functioning, but
there are three other powers that keep it alive: the states, constitutionally
protected institutions, and most importantly, the people. Continue Reading

Opportunity/Inequality

Latest Fed Data On Household Wealth Mask Massive Inequality
(Forbes)The
Federal Reserve released its latest data on the country's finances on September
20. The household data show continued increases in wealth, but that is not the
whole story. Millions of households are left out of the stock and housing
booms. Continue Reading

Rich-world wage growth continues to disappoint (The Economist)THE
world is still in recovery mode fully ten years after the financial crisis of
2008-09. Inflation-adjusted wages grew by an average of 27% in the decade
before the crisis in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. In the ten years
since, real wages have increased by just 8.4%, on average. Continue Reading

Ray Dalio: Rising debt, income inequality and political
polarization are a recipe for a nasty downturn (MarketWatch)The
billionaire hedge-fund manager warns the next financial crisis will threaten
capitalism and democracy Continue Reading

Engagement

Residents use art to encourage civic engagement in their
neighborhoods (The Rapidian)Dwelling
Place summer get out the vote events allowed residents the freedom to drop by
and paint a poster, register to vote, check their registration status and more. Continue Reading

The art of civic engagement (University of New Mexico)Beyond
the world of entertainment, there's an intersection where art and activism
meet. This is where you will find For Freedoms, a self-described "hub for artists and art institutions
who want to be more engaged in public life." In collaboration with For
Freedoms, The University of New Mexico (UNM) Art Museum and College of Fine
Arts are joining the 50 State Initiative, a project centered around "the vital work of
artists." These student-driven projects are art with an endgame - getting
people to participate in democracy. Continue Reading

Participatory Budgeting Kicks Off, Help Decide How to Spend More
Than $1.5 Million in District (Greenpoint Post)Another
round of participatory budgeting is in the works for the district, with
more than $1.5 million on offer to fund local projects, Council Member Stephen
Levin announced last week. Continue Reading

K-12

Jeff Bezos Cites a Big Number, but Few Details, in Plan for
Low-Income Montessori Preschools

(New York Times)When
Jeff Bezos announced last week that he and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, would
create and operate a national network of Montessori preschools, few were more
surprised than Montessori organizations and leaders themselves. Continue Reading

The learning experience is different in schools that assign
laptops, a survey finds (The Hechinger Report)More
than twice as many principals in 2017 said students in their schools were
assigned some type of mobile device, like a laptop or tablet, than in 2015.
That's according to the Speak Up Research Project for Digital Learning, which
found that 60 percent of principals who responded to its latest survey say they
assign these devices, compared with 27 percent two years earlier. Continue Reading

Brooklyn middle schools eliminate 'screening' as New York City
expands integration efforts (Chalkbeat)New
York's Department of Education on Thursday approved sweeping changes to the way
students are admitted to middle schools across an entire Brooklyn district,
marking one of the most far-reaching integration efforts under Mayor Bill de
Blasio's administration. Continue Reading

Colorado College Helps Dreamers Afford Higher Education (US News
& World Report)Dreamers,
or those eligible for the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals program, can
work and pay taxes but are not eligible to receive state or government
financial aid. They can apply for private college scholarships, and in Colorado
they are eligible for in-state tuition if they have lived in the state for
three years, but for many higher education can still seem like a distant
reality. Continue Reading

Giving all students a voice is key to more effective higher
education (Arizona State University)Frank
Rhodes Lecture speaker Cathy Davidson encourages a 'provocative way of
thinking' when it comes to learning. Continue Reading

Lack of price transparency impeding informed
care decisions (Health Data Management)Consumers are being blindsided by the high costs of their
healthcare because of the lack of available price transparency data to make
informed buying decisions. Continue Reading